Abstract
Objective: There are mutual influences between intestine and lung, that propose a concept of the gut-lung axis, but the mechanism is still unclear. Microbial colonization in early life plays an important role in regulating intestinal and lung function. In order to explore the characteristics of early microbiota on the gut-lung axis, we studied the correlation between intestinal and pharyngeal microbiota on day 1 and day 28 after birth in premature neonates.Methods: Thirteen neonates born at 26–32 weeks gestational age (GA) hospitalized at the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of the West China Second Hospital of Sichuan University were enrolled in this study. Stool samples and pharyngeal swabs samples were collected from each neonate on the first day (T1) and the 28th day (T28) after birth. Total bacterial DNA was extracted and sequenced using the Illumina MiSeq Sequencing System based on the V3–V4 hyper-variable regions of the 16S rRNA gene. Based on the sequencing results, the composition of the intestinal and pharyngeal microbiota was compared and analyzed.Results: At T1, the difference in microbial composition between intestine and pharynx was not statistically significant. The intestinal microbiota was mainly composed of Unidentified Enterobacteriaceae, Ralstonia, Streptococcus, Fusobacterium, Ureaplasma, etc. The pharyngeal microbiota was mainly composed of Ureaplasma, Bacteroides, Fusobacterium, etc. Ureaplasma and Fusobacterium were detected in both intestine and pharynx. At T28, there was a significant difference in microbial composition between intestine and pharynx (p < 0.001). The intestinal microbiota was mainly composed of Unidentified Clostridiales, Klebsiella, Unidentified Enterobacteriaceae, Enterobacter, Streptococcus, etc. Pharyngeal microbiota was mainly composed of Streptococcus, Rothia, etc. Streptococcus was detected in both intestine and pharynx.Conclusions: The intestine and pharynx of premature neonates have a unique microbial composition, and share some common microbiota. Whether these microbiotas play a role in the mechanism of gut-lung crosstalk needs further study.
Highlights
Intestinal microbiota plays an important role in human health and disease [1]
52 samples were collected from the enrolled neonates, 16S rRNA was amplified from 34 samples (6 samples in T1s group; 4 samples in T1y group; 13 samples in T28s group; 11 samples in T28y group; Table 2), and 2,944,688 reads were obtained
Our observations support the hypothesis that temporal factors influence the microbial colonization of preterm infants, such as there was no significant difference in Shannon index between the T28s group and the T28y group
Summary
Intestinal microbiota plays an important role in human health and disease [1]. In recent years, numerous studies have shown that infant intestinal microbiota affects the growth and development of children [2, 3], and are associated with neonatal sepsis, neonatal necrotizing enterocolitis [4], childhood obesity [5], asthma, eczema [6], and diabetes [7], hypertension [8], and other diseases in adulthood. The concept of sterile uterus has been challenged, but the results are still controversial and worth further study [9, 10]. Chronic respiratory diseases can affect the composition of the intestinal microbiota, and in turn, intestinal microbiota may affected the function of the respiratory system [13, 14] These results suggest that there is a crosstalk between the respiratory system and the intestine, which proposes a concept of the gutlung axis [15]. There are many studies on the gut-lung axis, but the mechanism is still unclear [16]. It is very crucial to study the microbial characteristics of the intestine and lung for further exploring the mechanism of the gut-lung axis
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